Month: May 2021

Home Backs Jan. 6 Fee, however Senate Path Dims

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Post date May 20, 2021

House Backs Jan. 6 Commission, but Senate Path Dims

WASHINGTON – A sharply divided house voted on Wednesday to establish an independent commission to investigate the January 6th Capitol attack to overcome Republican opposition determined to halt high-profile coverage of the deadly pro-Trump uprising.

But even as the bill passed the House, top Republicans shut down arms to freak it in the Senate and protect former President Donald J. Trump and her party from re-examining their role in that day’s events.

The 252-175 votes in the House of Representatives, with four-fifths of Republicans opposed, indicated the difficult road ahead for the Senate proposal. Thirty-five Republicans resisted their leadership to support the bill.

The vote came hours after Kentucky Senator Mitch McConnell, the Republican leader, declared his opposition to the plan. Mr McConnell had only said the day before that he was open to voting in favor and that he previously had both Mr Trump’s role in sparking the attack and some Republicans’ efforts on Jan. 6 to block the certification of, loudly condemns the 2020 election results.

His reversal reflected broader efforts by the party to politically move beyond the attack on the Capitol – or to recast the riots as a largely peaceful protest – under pressure from Mr Trump and over concerns about the issue they were facing in the mid-term elections Tracked in 2022.

Proponents hailed the move to establish the commission as an ethical and practical imperative to fully understand the most violent attack on Congress in two centuries, and Mr Trump’s election lie that fueled it. Following the example of the panel that investigated the September 11, 2001 attacks, the 10-member commission would conduct an investigation from the convention halls and deliver results by December 31.

“I was on the floor of the Capitol with the spokesman in the chair and a howling mob attacked the United States Capitol,” said representative Zoe Lofgren, a California Democrat and chair of a committee that had already investigated the attack lively roll call before voting. She reminded colleagues of the “knocking on doors” and the “mutilated police officers”.

“We have to get to the bottom of this, not only to understand what happened before the sixth, but how we can prevent it from happening again – how we can protect the world’s oldest democracy in the future,” said Ms Lofgren.

However, the prospects for Senate passage deteriorated significantly after Mr. McConnell, along with his counterpart, Representative Kevin McCarthy of California, and Mr. Trump considered the Democratic and moderate Republican proposal of the House to be overly partisan and a duplicate of the ongoing law enforcement action Justice Department and close Congressional investigations.

“After careful consideration, I have decided to oppose the House Democrats’ weird and unbalanced proposal for another commission to investigate the January 6th,” said McConnell in the Senate.

Many ordinary Republican senators who had flirted with support for the commission idea also quickly agreed, arguing that the proposal wasn’t really bipartisan and that the investigation would take too long and learn too little. Their positions made it less likely that Democrats could win the 10 Republican votes they would need to hit the 60-vote threshold required to pass the bill in the evenly-divided Senate.

Republican leaders who witnessed the January 6 events and fled for their lives when an armed mob overtook their jobs had briefly considered supporting the commission out of fairness. The 9/11 Commission was adopted almost unanimously two decades ago, and its work was widely publicized.

Their recent opposition pointed to a colder political calculation propelling the Republican approach through 2022: Better to avoid a potentially uncontrollable reckoning centered on Mr Trump and the false claims of electoral fraud that he continues to proclaim.

“I want our medium-term message to address the issues that the American people are dealing with – jobs and wages and the economy, national security, safe roads, strong borders and such issues,” said Senator John Thune of South Dakota, Mr. McConnell’s No. 2. “Don’t Religious the 2020 Elections.”

After a bipartisan negotiation approved by Mr McCarthy, the outcome was disheartening to those who believed that Mr Trump’s resignation from the public scene and the reality of an assault on the seat of government could help ease strained Republican relations and democrats.

The two parties are expected to stall again on Thursday if Democrats over a 1, four months after the deaths of at least five people in connection with the invasion, which injured nearly 140 people and injured dozen of people. Vote $ 9 billion spending plan to strengthen Capitol defenses Millions of dollars in damage to the Capitol complex.

Democrats were furious. They had made several concessions to Mr McCarthy, believing that he would support the deal only to see he slammed it publicly for not investigating unrelated “political violence” on the left. Some Democrats said the episode only pointed out to them that there was no point in negotiating with Republicans over one of the big issues dividing the parties, including President Biden’s infrastructure proposal.

In the House of Representatives, Democratic leaders threatened to launch a more partisan investigation on January 6 through existing congressional committees or through the creation of a new selection committee if the commission’s proposal dies.

Democratic lawmakers and even some Republicans speculated that Mr McCarthy’s reluctance may have been driven in part by efforts to prevent harmful information about his own conversations with Mr Trump from coming to light around Jan. 6, at a time when he tries to help his party take back the house and become a spokesman.

“You have to ask them what they are afraid of,” California spokeswoman Nancy Pelosi told reporters. “But it sounds like they are afraid of the truth, and that is extremely unfortunate.”

New York Democrat Senator Chuck Schumer and majority leader, pledged to hold a Senate vote in the coming weeks to force Republicans to take a public position, despite not offering a specific date.

“The American people will see for themselves whether our Republican friends are on the side of the truth or on the side of Donald Trump’s great lie,” he said.

During the floor of the House debate, the Republicans who backed the panel tried repeatedly to make it a replay of the 9/11 commission whose leaders endorsed the new effort. Although the impeachment proceedings against the Senate and a handful of congressional committees have already produced a detailed report on that day, important questions remain, particularly about Mr Trump’s conduct and the roots of intelligence and security deficiencies.

“Make no mistake, it’s about the facts, it’s not partisan politics,” said Republican John Katko, Republican of New York, who was negotiating legislation to create the commission with Representative Bennie Thompson, Democrat of Mississippi.

“Jan. 6 will haunt this institution for a long time, ”said Michigan representative Fred Upton, another Republican who voted to set up the commission. “Five months later, we still have no answers to the basic questions: who knew what, when, and what did they do about it?”

Among the Republicans who voted for the commission was a well-known group of moderate and staunch critics of Mr Trump, many of whom either voted to charge him with the January 6 attack or otherwise condemned his actions. Most notable was the Wyoming representative Liz Cheney, who was fired from the party leadership last week for refusing to stop criticizing Mr Trump for his attempts to overthrow the election.

The supporters also counted a large number of established Republicans from conservative districts who, despite the politics, were shaken by the attack and want a thorough investigation.

Among the votes against were Republican Greg Pence, Republican of Indiana, and the brother of former Vice President Mike Pence, whose opposition to the freeze on the confirmation of the election results made him one of the main targets of pro-Trump rioters, of whom some erected a gallows outside the Capitol. In a statement, Representative Pence said Ms. Pelosi had attempted to appoint herself a “hanging judge” in order to carry out a “pretended political execution of Donald Trump”.

The scale of the Republican spills in Wednesday’s vote embarrassed Mr McCarthy at a time when he was vowing to unite the party and few Republicans were ready to defend their opposition during the debate. Mr Katko’s allies were particularly outraged that the minority leader stood in for him to make a deal and then released him when he did.

Democrats attempted to further embarrass Republicans by distributing an unusual letter from Capitol police officers expressing “deep disappointment” with Mr. McCarthy and Mr. McConnell.

“It is incomprehensible to believe that anyone could suggest that we move forward and get over it,” the officials wrote in the unsigned letter.

In the Senate, a small group of moderate Republicans suggested Wednesday that they would continue to be interested in running a commission, albeit with changes to staff appointments. But Mr. McConnell left very little chance that his executive team could come to yes.

Mr. McConnell had emerged as one of the most outspoken Republican critics of Mr. Trump on Jan. 6. He blamed him for the loss of the House, Senate, and White House, and inspired the deadliest attack on Congress in 200 years. But in the months since Mr. Trump regained control of the party, Mr. McConnell has been increasingly reluctant to stir his anger.

On Wednesday, he insisted that he believed he could get to the bottom of what had happened, but argued that the ongoing investigation by the Justice Department and non-partisan Senate committees was sufficient. In reality, the scope of this work is likely to be much narrower than what a commission could investigate.

“The facts have come out,” said McConnell, “and they will come out.”

Tags backs, Commission, Dims, House, Jan, Path, Senate

Business

L Manufacturers (LB) Q1 2021 earnings beat

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Post date May 20, 2021

Shoppers walk past a Victoria’s Secret store in a mall in San Diego, Calif., On April 22, 2021.

Bing Guan | Bloomberg | Getty Images

Victoria’s secret parent company L Brands reported first-quarter earnings and sales that beat analysts’ estimates on Wednesday.

The stock recently fell more than 1% in extended trading.

Here’s how the company performed for the quarter ended May 1, compared to analyst expectations based on a refinitive survey:

Earnings per share: $ 1.25 adjusted versus $ 1.21 expected
Revenue: $ 3.02 billion versus $ 3.01 billion expected

Net income rose to $ 276.6 million, or 97 cents per share, compared to a loss of $ 296.9 million, or $ 1.07 per share, last year. With no one-time expense, L Brands earned $ 1.25 per share, beating analysts’ forecast $ 1.21.

Total revenue increased more than 80% from $ 1.65 billion a year ago to $ 3.02 billion. That surpassed the estimates for $ 3.01 billion.

Total revenue in the same store increased 21% year over year, compared to a 4% increase in the same period last year.

At Victoria’s Secret, sales in the same store rose 25%, compared to a 15% decrease last year. Sales in the same store at Bath & Body Works rose 16%, compared to a 41% increase last year when many consumers stocked up on hand sanitizer at the start of the Covid pandemic.

According to L Brands, sales increased during the quarter thanks to stimulus checks and relaxed pandemic restrictions in stores. While it’s difficult to quantify the exact benefits of government incentives, the company estimated that the payouts increased sales by about $ 125 million – a benefit of $ 50 million at Bath & Body Works and $ 75 million at Victoria’s Secret.

The company had previously announced its first quarter expectations and raised them several times, citing the continued increased momentum of its lingerie brand Victoria’s Secret.

Management said in prepared notes released Wednesday that customers at Victoria’s Secret have responded “positively” to new merchandise, including marketing of its first-ever Mother’s Day campaign with a pregnant model.

“We are starting to tell the story of our repositioning of our brand through our marketing,” said the company.

Victoria’s Secret has long had a dominant market share in the lingerie industry but fell out of favor due to its overtly sexy marketing that avoided certain body types. That marketing message wasn’t working for many women and they had started shopping at other brands like American Eagle’s Aerie that included inclusivity and convenience. Victoria’s Secret had to spin to meet their needs.

By the fall, L Brands will spin off its Victoria’s Secret business into its own publicly traded company and said it would not make a forecast for the rest of the year.

The company also appointed the new CFOs for the two new companies. Wendy Arlin, currently Senior Vice President Finance and Controller at L Brands, will become CFO of Bath & Body Works. Former Big Lots CFO Tim Johnson becomes Victoria’s secret CFO.

For the second quarter, L Brands is calling for adjusted earnings per share in a range of 80 cents to $ 1. According to Refinitiv, analysts were looking for 76 cents per share.

It is forecast that Q2 sales will increase between 10% and 15% compared to 2019.

According to L Brands, the split will allow both brands to focus more on growth and have greater financial flexibility to adapt to a changing retail landscape. It had either considered a spin-off or a sale, but said the spin-off was the best option for the company to achieve the highest value.

At the close of trading on Wednesday, L Brands shares were up around 82% since the start of the year. The company has a market capitalization of $ 18.8 billion.

The full press release from L Brands can be found here.

Tags beat, Brands, earnings

Health

100 Million Vaccine Doses Held Up Over Contamination Issues, Emergent Reveals

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Post date May 20, 2021

Contamination Woes Hold Back 100 Million Vaccine Doses

WASHINGTON – The executive director of Emergent BioSolutions, whose Baltimore facility ruined millions of coronavirus vaccine doses, announced on Wednesday that more than 100 million doses of the vaccine were being put on hold by Johnson & Johnson as regulators screen for possible contamination.

In more than three hours of testimony before a House subcommittee, chief executive Robert G. Kramer calmly acknowledged unsanitary conditions, including mold and peeling paint, at the Baltimore plant. He acknowledged that Johnson & Johnson had discovered – not emergent – contaminated cans and fought off aggressive questions from the Democrats about his stock sales and hundreds of thousands of dollars in bonuses for company executives.

Emergent’s Bayview Baltimore facility shut down a month ago after contamination spoiled the equivalent of 15 million cans. However, Mr. Kramer told the legislature that he expected the plant to resume production “in a few days”. He said he took “very seriously” a report from federal regulators that identified manufacturing defects and assumed “full responsibility”.

“Nobody is more disappointed than us that we had to stop manufacturing new vaccines around the clock,” Kramer told the panel, adding: “I apologize for the failure of our controls.”

Mr Kramer’s appearance before the House Select Coronavirus Crisis Subcommittee, which has launched a full investigation into his company, provided the public with an initial glimpse into the men who run Emergent, a politically affiliated federal entrepreneur who has a niche market for the Biological Defense Preparation dominates with the US government as the main customer.

Mr. Kramer, who testified virtually, was assisted by Fuad El-Hibri, the company’s founder and chairman, who has grown from a small biotech company to a $ 1.5 billion company in annual sales over the past two decades has expanded. Executive compensation documents released by the subcommittee show that the company’s board of directors praised Mr. El-Hibri, who cashed in more than $ 42 million in stock and options last year, for “his critical relationships with important customers, Congress and other stakeholders. ”

Those members of Congress include Representative Steve Scalise of Louisiana, the No. 2 Republican in the House, and the Chief Republican on the House subcommittee. Federal campaign records indicate that Mr. El-Hibri and his wife have donated more than $ 150,000 to groups associated with Mr. Scalise since 2018. The company’s Political Action Committee has donated approximately $ 1.4 million to members of both parties over the past 10 years.

Mr El-Hibri expressed his remorse on Wednesday. “The cross-contamination incident is unacceptable,” he said.

Mr. Kramer’s estimate of 100 million cans held increased the number of Johnson & Johnson cans effectively quarantined due to regulatory concerns about contamination by 30 million. Federal officials had previously estimated that the equivalent of about 70 million cans – most of them for domestic use – could not be released until purity was tested.

The House Democrats began their investigation into Emergent after the New York Times documented months of problems at the Baltimore plant, including failure to properly disinfect equipment and protect it from viral and bacterial contamination.

Hours before the hearing began, the committee’s staff released confidential audits previously reported by The Times that cited repeated violations of manufacturing standards. A leading federal manufacturing expert reiterated these concerns in a June 2020 report, warning that Emergent did not have trained staff and adequate quality control in place.

“My teenage son’s room gives your facility a run for its money,” Representative Raja Krishnamoorthi, Democrat of Illinois, told Mr. Kramer.

Mr. Kramer initially stated that the contamination of the Johnson & Johnson cans “was identified by our quality control procedures and checks and balances.” However, when questioned, he admitted that a Johnson & Johnson laboratory in the Netherlands had picked up the problem. Johnson & Johnson hired Emergent to manufacture its vaccine and is now claiming greater control over the facility at the urging of the Biden government.

The federal government placed a $ 628 million contract with Emergent last year, primarily to reserve space at the Baltimore plant for vaccine manufacturing. The legislature is examining, among other things, whether the company is maintaining its contacts with a leading representative of the Trump administration, Dr. Robert Kadlec, used to secure this mandate and whether federal officials have ignored known shortcomings in placing the work on Emergent.

Mr El-Hibri told lawmakers that the government and Johnson & Johnson are aware of the risks.

“Everyone was open-minded that this is a facility that has never manufactured a licensed product before,” he said. While the Baltimore plant was “not in perfect working order – far from it,” he argued that the plant was “in the highest state of readiness” among the plants that the government had to choose from.

For Republicans, including Mr Scalise, Wednesday’s session became a means of defending Emergent and the Trump administration and raising other virus-related issues: the unproven theory that the coronavirus leaked from a laboratory in China that “Lies of the Communist Party” of China “, mask mandates and the demand of the Biden government for a renunciation of an international agreement on intellectual property.

“You are a reputable company that did Yeoman’s job protecting this bio-defense country,” exclaimed Mark E. Green, Republican of Tennessee, adding, “So you have your people a bonus for their incredible work given. “

Emergent is able to work in Washington. The board of directors is made up of former government officials, and Senate lobbying data shows the company has spent an average of $ 3 million a year on lobbying over the past decade. That’s roughly the equivalent of two pharmaceutical giants, AstraZeneca and Bristol Myers Squibb, whose annual sales are at least 17 times higher.

Democrats urged Mr. Kramer and Mr. El-Hibri to open their contacts with Dr. Kadlec, who had previously consulted for Emergent. Documents indicate that Emergent agreed to pay him $ 120,000 annually for his advisory work between 2012 and 2015 and that he recommended that Emergent be given a “priority rating” so that the contract can be approved quickly. Dr. Kadlec said he didn’t negotiate the deal but signed it.

“Did you or any other Emergent executives speak or make contacts with Dr. Kadlec while these contracts were being issued?” Representative Nydia M. Velázquez, Democrat of New York, asked Mr. Kramer.

“Congressman,” he replied cautiously, “I haven’t had any discussions with Dr. Kadlec about it.”

The government has paid Emergent $ 271 million to date, although American regulators have not yet approved a single dose of vaccine made in the vaccine in Baltimore.

An investigation by the Times found that Emergent was an oversized influence on the Strategic National Stockpile, the country’s emergency medical reserve. In a few years, the company’s anthrax vaccine made up half of the inventory budget.

The investigation found that some federal officials believed the company was undermining taxpayers – an issue that also surfaced at Wednesday’s hearing when New York Democrat Carolyn B. Maloney asked how much it would cost to make the vaccine and what he sells for. Mr. El-Hibri promised to provide the information later.

Company executives also consider their coronavirus work to be one of the “main drivers” of 2020 revenue, according to a memorandum released Wednesday by committee staff. Executives have been rewarded for what the company’s board of directors calls “exemplary overall company performance for 2020 , including a significant overachievement of the sales and earnings targets ”.

Mr Kramer received a $ 1.2 million cash bonus in 2020, the records show, and this year also sold $ 10 million worth of shares in stores that he said were planned in advance and dated Companies have been approved. Three of the company’s executive vice presidents received awards between $ 445,000 and $ 462,000.

Sean Kirk, who is responsible for overseeing development and manufacturing processes at all Emergent production sites, received a special bonus of $ 100,000 last year in addition to his regular bonus of $ 320,611, including for expanding the contract manufacturing capacities of the Company to Covid- 19 show the documents. Mr. Kirk is now on personal vacation.

Aspiring officials “appear to have wasted tax dollars while filling their own pockets,” accused Ms. Maloney.

Mr Krishnamoorthi asked Mr Kramer if he would consider giving his bonus to American taxpayers.

“I will not make this commitment,” replied Mr. Kramer.

“I didn’t think so,” replied Krishnamoorthi-san.

Rebecca R. Ruiz contributed to the coverage.

Tags concerns, Contamination, Doses, Emergent, Held, million, Reveals, Vaccine

Business

TikTok’s Proprietor, ByteDance, Says C.E.O. Zhang Yiming Will Resign

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Post date May 20, 2021

TikTok's Owner, ByteDance, Says C.E.O. Zhang Yiming Will Resign

Zhang Yiming, who helped found the parent company of TikTok, the Chinese internet conglomerate ByteDance, and turned it into a global giant, will step down as managing director at the end of the year to focus on long-term strategies, he wrote in a letter to employees from Wednesday.

Liang Rubo, ByteDance’s co-founder and HR director, will take over the management.

“After handing over my role as CEO and freeing myself from the responsibilities of day-to-day management, I have the opportunity to explore long-term strategies, organizational culture and social responsibility with a more objective perspective on the company,” Zhang wrote.

Mr. Zhang, 38, is also the chairman of ByteDance. The letter ByteDance posted on its website did not address whether the leadership change would affect his role in that position.

ByteDance was founded in 2012 and is China’s first truly global internet company. TikTok has achieved commercial success and cultural impact that none of the country’s other technology powerhouses outside of China’s borders has achieved.

Tags ByteDance, CEO, owner, resign, TikToks, Yiming, Zhang

Entertainment

Schitt’s Creek: Dan Levy, Emily Hampshire BTS Motel Webisode

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Post date May 20, 2021

SCHITT'S CREEK, from left: Emily Hampshire, Daniel Levy,

Image source: Everett

Welcome back to the Rosebud Motel, where the Herb Ertlinger wine flows freely and the Schitt’s Creek The cast lets us deal with their behind-the-scenes antics. On Wednesday, Emily Hampshire shared a season one web episode in which she and Dan Levy are portrayed as Stevie and David while talking about the motel sale. “How far did you get in selling the motel when I wasn’t there?” David asks Stevie, who says she “hardly thought about it” other than talking to a broker, getting a quote, buying “for sale” signs, and coming up with a few commercial slogans.

“Are you looking for an awkwardly located storage room with lots of powdery mildew? Then this motel is for you!” Says Stevie before pointing at the camera. Other tempting selling points include the potential to use the motel as “demolition practice,” as a “boutique-style minimum security prison,” or as a horror film for aspiring student filmmakers. Interested parties can direct their inquiries to 1-855-555-SCHITT.

“I can’t believe I’ve never seen this before,” Hampshire captioned the post. She also congratulated Amy Segal, also known as Amyjuliasegal, on Instagram for directing all 52 scripts Schitt’s Creek Webisodes and Behind the consequences Videos of their most recent Canadian Screen Award for Best Biography or Art Documentary Program or Best Series.

While we can’t believe this gem has lingered in the vault for the last five years, we’re glad it finally popped up so we can hit the play button whenever we need a good laugh. Check out the hilarious Schitt’s Creek Webisode here.

Tags BTS, Creek, Dan, Emily, Hampshire, Levy, Motel, Schitts, Webisode

Health

Fauci says Covid infections are lowering in all 50 states

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Post date May 20, 2021

Fauci says Covid infections are decreasing in all 50 states

Dr. Anthony Fauci, Director at the National Institute for Allergies and Infectious Diseases, speaks during a press conference with Press Secretary Jen Psaki at the White House in Washington, USA, on April 13, 2021.

Tom Brenner | Reuters

Dr. White House chief medical officer Anthony Fauci said Wednesday that Covid-19 infections are decreasing in every state in the United States

“All 50 states have now seen declines in infection rates,” Fauci said in an interview with Axios, suggesting the widespread declines would make it safer for Americans to resume activities such as indoor dining.

The US reports an average of 31,200 new cases per day over the past week, data from Johns Hopkins University shows. This corresponds to a decrease of 18% compared to the previous week. Case numbers have been falling since the country’s last peak about a month ago in mid-April, when the country recorded more than 71,000 cases per day.

Fauci did not provide the length of time over what period these declines in state-level infections have occurred. A CNBC analysis of the Johns Hopkins data shows the average daily caseload in 40 states has decreased by 5% or more over the past week.

The data is murky in some places, such as Alabama, where Johns Hopkins says the number of cases has been released in recent days, making the latest trend difficult to interpret.

Fauci’s statement suggests that the outbreak is weakening across the country, rather than being more confined to a particular state or region responsible for the decline in numbers.

Tags Covid, decreasing, Fauci, infections, states

Business

Singapore faces ‘twin challenges’ from local weather change, says minister

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Post date May 20, 2021

Singapore faces 'twin challenges' from climate change, says minister

SINGAPORE – Singapore faces two challenges from climate change and is pursuing a new coastal protection plan to preserve the island’s most vulnerable coastlines, the country’s environment minister said.

“Our dual challenges are coastal flooding … (and) extreme rainstorms, which can lead to more intense inland flooding. So we need a system that will help us address both issues,” said Grace Fu, Minister for Sustainability and the environment.

The project, launched Tuesday by Singapore’s national water agency PUB, will collect science and data on how best to mitigate and adjust coastal damage before creating a road map, Fu told CNBC’s “Squawk Box Asia” on Wednesday .

Singapore, a small Southeast Asian city-state smaller than New York City, has worked for years to protect its coastline from sea level rise and other environmental damage.

Much of the country is only 15 meters above mean sea level, with about 30% of the country less than 5 meters above mean sea level. This has prompted authorities to introduce a minimum land reclamation of 4 meters – a number that would likely soon increase to 5 meters, Fu said.

“We want to understand the effects of all of these climate scenarios on our environment, sea water levels and also the tidal differences that are coming our way,” she said.

The first region to fall under the plan will be 57.8 km of coastline stretching across Singapore’s Greater South Waterfront. These include the city’s central business district, the east coast and Changi, which is where Singapore’s Changi Airport is located.

The skyline of the financial and business center can be seen in the background as people paddle along the beach at East Coast Park in Singapore on July 17, 2020.

Facebook Facebook Logo Log in to Facebook to connect with Roslan Rahman AFP | Getty Images

Singapore’s new coastal defense strategy gives private developers an opportunity to help shape their future, Fu said.

The study starts with a $ 5 billion fund and will be carried out over the next four years by a privately owned consortium of Singaporean and Dutch consulting firms. This process will in turn open the door for other private companies to offer green solutions, Fu said.

“For the investments that the government is making, I am sure that the private sector can benefit from building and delivering the tech solutions,” she said.

“Developers along the way will have an idea of the plan we are pursuing,” she said. “So if you build infrastructure, if you build buildings, if you build offices, or if you build recreational facilities, you have to build with this science, this data and these assumptions.”

The project takes place amid increasing efforts to reduce the effects of climate change around the world.

Tags challenges, change, Climate, Faces, Minister, Singapore, twin

Politics

January 6 U.S. Capitol assault: Home passes fee invoice

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Post date May 20, 2021

January 6 U.S. Capitol attack: House passes commission bill

The House passed bipartisan bill on Wednesday to set up an independent commission to investigate the January 6th uprising in the U.S. Capitol, while GOP leaders opposed its passage.

The plan called for a panel to investigate the attack on lawmakers by a crowd of Trump supporters that killed five people, including a Capitol police officer. Democratic and Republican leaders would each appoint five people to the 10-person commission, which would issue a report upon completion of its investigation. The panel would have the power to summon.

The Democratic House, with the support of the GOP, passed the move on a 252-175 vote when lawmakers sought more information on what had led to the violent attempt to disrupt the transfer of power to President Joe Biden. Kevin McCarthy, minority chairman of the House of Representatives, R-Calif., Opposed the plan and his leadership team officially called on Republicans to vote against it. 35 GOP representatives supported the measure, while 175 Republicans voted against.

The bill will have a harder time getting through the Senate. While Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, DN.Y., plans to vote on it, Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., Announced his opposition on Wednesday. Democrats would only need 10 GOP votes to approve the Senate move, but McConnell’s stance is a blow to his prospects.

“It’s not at all clear what new facts or additional investigation another commission could actually build on the existing efforts of law enforcement and Congress,” McConnell said. “The facts have come out and they will come out.”

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Read more about CNBC’s political coverage:

Ahead of Wednesday’s vote, Schumer said the Chamber’s Republican leaders “are giving in to Donald Trump and proving that the Republican Party is still drunk on the big lie.”

A crowd of former President Donald Trump’s supporters, fueled by his unsubstantiated claims that widespread fraud drove Biden’s 2020 election victory, overran the Capitol while lawmakers officially counted the president’s victory. The rioters came within moments of reaching members of Congress and former Vice President Mike Pence – who rejected Trump’s pressure to use his ceremonial role in the process to reverse the election result and chants of “Hang Mike Pence!”

House Democrats, along with 10 Republicans, indicted Trump for instigating a riot in his final days in office. The Senate acquitted the former president after he left the White House. All 50 members of the Democratic caucus and seven Republicans voted to condemn him.

Trump supporters near the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021 in Washington, DC.

Shay Horse | NurPhoto | Getty Images

Republican criticism of the commission agreement comes from the fact that much of the party is trying to downplay attempts to disrupt the transfer of power or to compare it with other political violence or property damage. House Republicans in particular have set themselves the goal of curbing criticism of Trump – their party’s most popular figure – as they seek to regain control of the House in next year’s midterm elections.

In his statement announcing his rejection of the commission agreement on Tuesday, McCarthy suggested that the panel should have a broader scope. He also said he feared this could redouble the investigative efforts of the congressional committees and the Justice Department.

“Given the political misdirections that have undermined this process, given the now dual and potentially counterproductive nature of these efforts, and the short-sighted scope of the speaker who did not examine the interrelated forms of political violence in America, I cannot support this legislation,” said McCarthy. Who voted against counting Arizona and Pennsylvania certified election results for 2020, said.

House of Representatives Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy speaks on the day the House of Representatives is expected to vote on laws to provide $ 1.9 trillion new coronavirus relief at the U.S. Capitol in Washington on February 26, 2021.

Kevin Lemarque | Reuters

Prior to Wednesday’s vote, House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, D-Md., Accused Republicans of comparing armed disruption of power to other violence. He said the GOP appeared to have tried “to get the issue so confused that we lose sight of the January 6 uprising”.

Hoyer added that he “knows of no other case that corresponds to the attack on the Capitol during his four decades in Congress.”

Republicans’ concerns come after a bilateral legislature, Homeland Security Committee chairman Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., And senior member, Rep. John Katko, RN.Y. brokered the deal. Katko responded Wednesday to concerns from his party that Democrats might use the panel for political purposes.

“I ask my colleagues to take into account the fact that this commission is built for work, is being depoliticized and getting the results we need,” he said.

House spokeswoman Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., Has also criticized GOP lawmakers for speaking out against the commission agreement. Commenting on NBC News, she said she saw “cowardice on the part of some Republicans” for not “trying to find the truth.”

Before Wednesday’s vote, she called the commission, which she said was vital to understanding the attack on the Capitol.

“This legislation is about something bigger than the Commission, as important as the Commission is. This legislation is about our democracy,” Pelosi said.

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Tags Attack, Bill, Capitol, Commission, House, January, Passes

Business

‘It’s Magic What We Do.’ Film Theaters Get Starry-Eyed As soon as Extra.

Post author By
Post date May 19, 2021

‘It’s Magic What We Do.’ Movie Theaters Get Starry-Eyed Once More.

Cinemark, for example, lost $ 208 million in the first quarter of 2021. “However, I am pleased to announce that we are now actively on the recovery path,” said the company’s CEO, Mark Zoradi, during a call for earnings.

In business today

Updated

May 19, 2021, 2:36 p.m. ET

There are also reasons for moviegoers to be enthusiastic. “Fast and Furious 9” debuts on June 25th. (It opens in China this weekend.) The musical “In the Heights,” adapted from Lin-Manuel Miranda’s Broadway show, opens on June 11th. Marvel’s “Black Widow” will be released on July 9th, while Disney’s “Jungle Cruise” will open on July 30th. (Both will also be available immediately on Disney + for an additional charge, a detail that was not included in Wednesday’s presentation.)

According to the exhibition research company National Research Group, around 70 percent of moviegoers will be happy to return to the theater from Monday. The box office for April was $ 190 million, up 300 percent since February. This is a welcome relief for the South African director Neill Blomkamp, whose new horror film “Demonic” from the indie outfit IFC will not be released until the end of August.

“I enjoy that,” he said in a video message. “I want people to be scared in a darkened theater.”

One benefit of the pandemic was a more flexible approach to movie release. For years, exhibitors demanded around 72 to 90 days of exclusive theater exhibition before a film could be made available via a streaming service or premium video on demand. The pandemic has collapsed and the new window of exclusivity is 45 days.

For Ms. Taylor, who joined Alamo in late April 2020 after more than two years as President and Chief Operating Officer of United Planet Fitness Partners, the outdated relationship between the theater chains and the studios surprised herself even during a pandemic.

“Studios 1,000 percent control the product,” she said. “And as an exhibitionist, you have no control. It’s really difficult. “

Tags magic, Movie, StarryEyed, Theaters

World News

Israel-Palestinian Battle: Stay Updates and Video

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Post date May 19, 2021

A building in the southern city of Ashdod, Israel, on Monday after being hit by a rocket fired from Gaza.

Here’s what you need to know:

Credit…Dan Balilty for The New York Times

A senior Hamas official said on Wednesday that he expected a cease-fire agreement within a day or two, while Israeli media has reported that Israeli officials do not expect the bombing to stop until Friday at the earliest.

The comments offered the latest indications that talks on halting — or at least pausing — the conflict are making headway.

In past conflicts, cease-fire agreements have broken down and been followed by resumed violence, and it was not clear whether any deal reached this week would lead to a long-term suspension of hostilities or just a brief hiatus to allow humanitarian relief supplies to reach the battered Gaza Strip.

Speaking to an Arabic television channel, Mousa Abu Marzouq, a senior official of Hamas, the militant group that controls Gaza, said he expected the cease-fire talks to succeed in the next one or two days. But, he warned, “Our equation is clear — bombing for bombing, and escalation will be met with escalation.”

Similarly, Israeli officials have said that as long as rockets continue to be fired at Israel from Gaza, Israel will continue to bomb the territory. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and others have said the campaign will go on as long as it takes to degrade Hamas’s ability to attack Israel, particularly with rockets.

Israeli media reported that Israel’s military commanders expect the bombardment of Gaza to continue for at least another two days.

Credit…Hosam Salem for The New York Times

President Biden told Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday that he “expected a significant de-escalation today on the path to a cease-fire” in the conflict between Israel and Hamas, the White House principal deputy press secretary told reporters onboard Air Force One.

“Our focus has not changed,” the press secretary, Karine Jean-Pierre, said. “We are working towards a de-escalation.”

Ms. Jean-Pierre said Mr. Biden wanted the situation to reach a “sustainable calm.”

She said the call, which came before the president departed from Washington to address graduates at the United States Coast Guard Academy on Wednesday morning, did not reflect a shift in administration policy as it pertains to a cease-fire.

“This is what we have been calling for for the past eight days,” she said.

Mr. Netanyahu did not give any assurance during the call that Mr. Biden could expect a cease-fire, according to a senior administration official who received a readout of the call shortly after it happened.

After visiting Israeli military headquarters, Mr. Netanyahu said he was “determined to continue this operation until its aim is met.”

Still, the president’s call to the Israeli leader added to a growing chorus of international parties urging the Israeli military and Hamas militants to lay down their weapons as the conflict stretched into its 10th day.

France is leading efforts to call for a cease-fire at the United Nations Security Council, but it remains unclear when a resolution will be put to a vote.

Israel and Hamas have signaled a willingness to reach a cease-fire, diplomats privy to the discussions say, but that has not reduced the intensity of the deadliest fighting in Gaza since 2014.

At least 227 people in Gaza have been killed, including 64 children, and 1,620 have been wounded as of Wednesday afternoon, according to the Gaza health ministry. Israeli airstrikes and shelling have destroyed or damaged homes, roads and medical facilities across the territory.

Hamas militants continued to fire rockets into Israeli towns on Wednesday, sending people scurrying for shelter. More than 4,000 rockets have been fired from Gaza since the conflict began, according to the Israeli military, killing at least 12 Israeli residents.

VideoIsraeli airstrikes leveled homes in Gaza, and Hamas militants fired rockets into Israeli towns, as fighting continued into Wednesday. At least 227 people have been killed in Gaza and 12 in Israel, officials said.CreditCredit…Khalil Hamra/Associated Press

As Egypt, Qatar and the United Nations mediated talks between Israel and Hamas, the two adversaries indicated publicly that the fighting could go on for days.

A senior Hamas official denied reports that the group had agreed to a cease-fire, but said that talks were ongoing.

Still, with Israeli warplanes firing into the crowded Gaza Strip, in a campaign that Israeli officials say is aimed at Hamas militants and their infrastructure, the humanitarian crisis has deepened for the two million people inside Gaza.

The United Nations said that more than 58,000 Palestinians in Gaza had been displaced from their homes, many huddling in U.N.-run schools that have in effect become bomb shelters. Israeli strikes have damaged schools, power lines, and water, sanitation and sewage systems for hundreds of thousands of people in a territory that has been under blockade by Israel and Egypt for more than a decade. Covid-19 vaccinations have stopped, and on Tuesday an Israeli strike knocked out the only lab in the territory that processes coronavirus tests.

“There is no safe place in Gaza, where two million people have been forcibly isolated from the rest of the world for over 13 years,” the U.N. emergency relief coordinator in the territory, Mark Lowcock, said in a statement.

Credit…Abdel Kareem Hana/Associated Press

GAZA CITY — Riad Ishkontana had promised his children that their building on Al Wahida Street was safe, though for Zein, his 2-year-old son, the thunder of the airstrikes spoke louder than his reassurances.

The Israelis had never bombed the neighborhood before, he told them. Theirs was a comfortable, tranquil area by Gaza City standards, full of professionals and shops, nothing military. The explosions were still far away. To soothe them all, he started calling home “the house of safety.”

Mr. Ishkontana, 42, tried to believe it, too, though around them the death toll was climbing — not by inches, but by leaps, by housefuls, by families.

He was still telling the children about their house of safety all the way up until after midnight early Sunday morning, when he and his wife were watching more plumes of gray smoke rising from Gaza on TV. She went to put the five children to bed. For all his attempts at comforting them, the family felt more secure sleeping all together in the boys’ room in the middle of the third-floor apartment.

Then a flash of bright light, and the building swayed. He said he rushed toward the boys’ room. Boom. The last thing he saw before the floor gave way beneath him and the walls fell on him, then a concrete pillar, then the roof, was his wife pulling at the mattress where she had already tucked in three of their children, trying to drag it out.

“My kids!” she was screaming, but the doorway was too narrow. “My kids!”

Credit…Mohammed Abed/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

As Israel has focused its firepower on Hamas’s warren of underground tunnels and infrastructure in the Gaza Strip, it has simultaneously been engaged in a parallel clandestine strategy: a targeted killing campaign against Hamas’s military leadership.

Israel has tried several times in the current fighting to kill Mohammed Deif, the commander of Hamas’s military wing, a spokesman for Israel Defense Forces said Wednesday. Mr. Deif, a shadowy figure who has been atop Israel’s most-wanted list for nearly three decades, has become a symbol of the militant group’s resilience.

“Throughout the operation, we have tried to assassinate Mohammed Deif,” said the spokesman, Brig. Gen. Hidai Zilberman.

Israeli commandos have come close a few times over the years, and Mr. Deif has been wounded, but he has always survived.

A senior Israeli army officer said that Mr. Deif, 55, had played a pivotal role in the latest conflict, including ordering the firing of 130 rockets at Tel Aviv last Wednesday, one of the harshest attacks on Israel’s commercial capital since the fighting began.

Mr. Deif, revered among many Palestinians for his strategic prowess and ability to evade Israeli efforts to kill him, has spent decades underground. He has survived at least eight attempts on his life, including by ambush, bombings of safe houses where he was staying and missiles fired at his car, Israeli intelligence officials said. The officials, like others quoted in this article, spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss operational details of an active mission.

Credit…Mahmud Hams/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

During those attempts, he has lost an eye and a hand, sustained neurological damage from shrapnel, suffered hearing damage and was left with a limp, according to a current and a former Israeli intelligence official.

A senior Israeli intelligence official said that since the last Israeli incursion into Gaza in 2014, Israel had several opportunities to kill him but had refrained from doing so for fear of setting off a war.

Even before Israel was founded as an independent state in 1948, those fighting for its creation had long engaged in targeted killings. But the program has raised moral quandaries internally and internationally about the ethics of such actions.

In August 2014, Israeli warplanes dropped at least five bombs on a house in the Sheikh Radwan neighborhood in Gaza where Israel believed Mr. Deif was staying. The house was reduced to rubble, and one of his wives, Widad, 28, and their infant son, Ali, were killed, along with another resident and her two teenage sons.

Israel thought that the strike had killed him. Although he survived — and subsequently fell into depression, according to the intelligence official — the attack fanned rumors of a security leak among Hamas’s leadership.

Security experts believe that Mr. Deif avoids detection by eschewing digital devices, using notes and couriers, and limiting his contacts to a tight, secret inner circle.

The commander, born in the Khan Younis refugee camp in Gaza, rose quickly through the ranks after joining the Islamist organization that became Hamas in the late 1980s. He has orchestrated numerous attacks against Israel, including a series of deadly bus bombings that derailed the peace process in the mid-1990s.

He is also credited with building Hamas’s military wing, the Qassam Brigades, into a fighting machine that can lob rockets against Israel, deploy commandos for naval missions and outmaneuver Israel in the warren of Gaza’s underground tunnels.

Credit…Hosam Salem for The New York Times

Most of the bombing and rocket fire have taken place at night, but violence between Israel and Palestinians continued to flare through the day on Wednesday, despite negotiations for a cease-fire.

In Deir al-Balah, a city in central Gaza, an Israeli airstrike on a residential building on Wednesday evening killed a married couple and their 2-year-old daughter, and wounded others, according to Palestinian health authorities. They said the woman was pregnant and her husband had a disability.
Near the West Bank city of Hebron, Israeli soldiers killed a Palestinian woman who had opened fire with an automatic rifle near the entrance to a Jewish settlement, according to the Israeli military. No one else was injured.
Four rockets were fired into northern Israel from Lebanon, and the Israeli military returned fire with artillery, but there were no reported casualties. It was the third such small-scale attack from Lebanese territory since the conflict in Gaza began. It was not clear who was responsible, but Hezbollah has said it did not fire the rockets.
Since May 10, the bombardment in Gaza has killed 227 people, including 64 children, and injured 1,620 people, in addition to leaving thousands homeless, Palestinian authorities said. In addition, they said Israelis had killed 27 Palestinians on the West Bank in unrest that began on May 7.
In Israel, 12 people have been killed by rockets fired from Gaza.

Credit…Kai Pfaffenbach/Reuters

Rocks thrown at doors of a synagogue in Bonn, Germany. Israeli flags burned outside a synagogue in Münster. A convoy of cars in North London from which a man chanted anti-Jewish slurs.

As the conflict in Israel and Gaza extended into a 10th day on Wednesday, recent episodes like these are fanning concerns among Jewish groups and European leaders that the latest strife in the Middle East is spilling over into anti-Semitic words and actions in Europe.

Thousands of demonstrators have gathered on the streets of Paris, Berlin, Vienna and other European cities in mostly peaceful protests over the Israeli bombardment of Gaza, which has killed at least 212 Palestinians, including 61 children.

Pro-Palestinian activists and organizers say that solidarity with Palestinians should not be confused with anti-Semitism, and they denounce what they say are attempts to use accusations of anti-Semitism to try to shield Israel from criticism. They say they aim to hold Israel accountable for what they characterize as atrocities against Palestinians.

But Moshe Kantor, the president of the European Jewish Congress, warned on Tuesday against “geopolitical events 3,000 miles away” being used as a pretext to attack Jews.

“By attacking Jewish targets, they demonstrate they don’t hate Jews because of Israel,” he said, “but rather hate Israel because it is the Jewish homeland.”

In Germany, where historical memory runs especially deep because of the Holocaust, pro-Palestinian rallies have been held in cities across the west of the country and in the capital, Berlin. Several have descended into violence, including anti-Semitic chants, calls for violence against Israel, desecration of memorials to Holocaust victims and attacks on at least two synagogues.

The Central Council of Jews in Germany tweeted a video last Thursday showing protesters in Gelsenkirchen, in western Germany, waving Palestinian and Turkish flags and shouting anti-Jewish slurs. “The times in which Jews were cursed in the middle of the street should have long been over,” the group wrote. “This is pure anti-Semitism, nothing else!”

The United States on Tuesday criticized President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey over remarks he made about Israel at a news conference this week. They are “murderers, to the point that they kill children who are 5 or 6 years old,” he said, and are “only are satisfied by sucking blood.”

Fears that the latest Middle East conflict will aggravate anti-Semitism have also been pronounced in France, which has Europe’s largest Jewish and Muslim populations, and where the situation in the Middle East has previously boiled over into violence on the country’s streets.

In 2014, during Israel’s invasion of Gaza, protesters in Paris and its suburbs targeted synagogues and Jewish shops, lit smoke bombs, and threw stones and bottles at riot police officers. Some chanted “Death to Jews.”

In London over the weekend, thousands of mostly peaceful demonstrators marched from Hyde Park to the Israeli Embassy in West London. But in an area of North London with a large Jewish population, members of a convoy of cars honked horns and shouted anti-Jewish sentiments. One man chanted that Jewish “daughters” should be raped. London’s Metropolitan Police said in a statement that four men had been arrested.

Owen Jones, a prominent British columnist who has been a vocal supporter of Palestinian rights, warned against conflating Israel’s actions with Jews as a whole.

“If you’re holding British Jews responsible for the crimes committed by the Israeli state, and trying to terrorize Jews because of what is happening in Palestine,” he wrote on Twitter, “you’re not a Palestinian solidarity activist, you’re a nauseating anti-Semite who needs to be comprehensively defeated.”

Credit…Maya Alleruzzo/Associated Press

Foreign workers have long faced precarious living conditions in Israel, especially during military conflict. And on Tuesday, a Hamas rocket attack killed two Thai workers and wounded at least seven others in a packaging house in southern Israel, Thai and Israeli officials said.

Businesses near the border with Gaza are allowed to operate if they have access to a bomb shelter or a safety room, but a local official said the agricultural community where the Thai workers died did not have such a space.

That is often the case with such setups, an expert on foreign labor in Israel said.

“Thai workers come to Israel on temporary programs and live in caravans and containers that are often overcrowded and in poor sanitary conditions,” said Yahel Kurlander, a researcher at Tel-Hai College who specializes in Thai workers in Israel.

“These housings don’t have the safety rooms required by law or outlined in the contracts of these workers, who don’t have anywhere to hide,” she added.

Thais make up most of Israel’s agriculture work force, and tens of thousands live in the country as part of an agreement between the two nations. Investigations by news outlets and rights groups have highlighted their squalid living conditions, low pay and dangerous working situations including the spraying of chemicals.

The two workers killed on Tuesday were part of a group of 25 foreigners working at the plant and living in caravans nearby, according to Kan, the Israeli public broadcaster.

Thai workers usually do not speak Hebrew and English, Dr. Kurlander said, and “are among the most vulnerable populations in Israel.”

The workers’ deaths came a week after a Hamas strike killed an Indian woman who worked as a caregiver in Ashkelon. Previous Hamas rocket attacks killed a Thai agricultural worker in Israel in 2014 and injured another in 2018.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a briefing on Wednesday that the recent deaths of the foreign workers were “one more manifestation of the fact that Hamas indiscriminately targets everyone.”

Israel has likewise been criticized for the killing of civilians in Gaza in military airstrikes. Those strikes in the past 10 days have killed over 200 Palestinians and wounded more than 1,500 others.

VideoA funeral was held for Yusef Abu Hussein, a Palestinian reporter working in Gaza overnight who was killed in an Israeli airstrike. He was the first journalist to be killed in the latest Israeli bombardment of the territory.CreditCredit…Mohammed Abed/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

An Israeli airstrike killed a Palestinian reporter working in Gaza overnight Tuesday, the first journalist to be killed in the latest Israeli bombardment of the territory.

Throughout the 10-day conflict, journalists working in Gaza have faced increasingly perilous conditions and the Israeli government has faced international criticism for endangering their safety.

After an Israeli airstrike destroyed a 12-story building that housed the offices of news organizations including The Associated Press and Al Jazeera on Saturday, the White House press secretary, Jen Psaki, said the United States had raised the issue with the Israeli government.

“We have communicated directly to the Israelis that ensuring the safety and security of journalists and independent media is a paramount responsibility,” Ms. Psaki wrote.

Although the building was evacuated, the A.P. said that it had “narrowly avoided a terrible loss of life.”

The journalist killed overnight Tuesday, Yusef Abu Hussein, was a Gaza City resident who worked as a radio journalist at the Hamas-run Aqsa Voice station. The assault also killed three other Palestinians, according to the local news media.

On Monday, Israeli warplanes bombed a building that housed the offices of Nawa Online Women Media Network, a news platform affiliated with a women’s rights and youth organization, according to a Facebook post from the outlet.

“In less than a week, Israel has bombed the offices of at least 18 media outlets,” Ignacio Miguel Delgado, the Middle East and North Africa representative for the Committee to Protect Journalists, said in a statement on Tuesday. “It’s difficult to reach any conclusion other than that the Israeli military wants to shut down news coverage of the suffering in Gaza.”

On Tuesday, Israeli forces assaulted a Palestinian reporter while she was filming an arrest in East Jerusalem, according to her employer, the website Middle East Eye.

In a video shared on social media, the reporter, Latifeh Abdellatif, appears in a heated interaction with two Israeli officers before one of them pushes her. Middle East Eye said the officers had then pulled down Ms. Abdellatif’s hijab and struck her knee with a baton.

Several reporters were also injured in separate incidents last week, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists. That included at least seven injured by rubber bullets fired by Israeli soldiers trying to remove demonstrators from the Temple Mount on May 7, according to Reporters Without Borders.

Ramallah, West BankNasser Nasser/Associated Press
Jaffa, IsraelCorinna Kern for The New York Times
Hawara checkpoint, near NablusJaafar Ashtiyeh/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images
Nablus, West BankMajdi Mohammed/Associated Press
Jerusalem’s Old CityMahmoud Illean/Associated Press
Hebron, West BankHazem Bader/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images
Bethlehem, West BankAgence France-Presse — Getty Images

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Palestinians across Israel and the occupied territories rallied together in solidarity on Tuesday. A general strike was followed by street demonstrations.

Credit…Samar Abu Elouf for The New York Times

The Israeli Embassy in Beijing criticized the Chinese state news media on Wednesday for spreading what it called “lies and racism” in a segment that said successful Jewish businesspeople had too much influence on American foreign policy.

In a video posted to its official Twitter account on Tuesday, the overseas arm of China’s state-owned China Central Television asked why the United States has defended Israel. “Jews dominate finance, media and the internet,” said a reporter for CGTN, the state broadcaster. “So do they have the powerful lobby that some say? Possible.”

In a response posted on Twitter on Wednesday, the Israeli Embassy in Beijing said that it was “disappointed to see these types of messages,” and that it hoped CGTN would “take down this insulting video that spreads lies and racism.”

During Israel’s bombing campaign in the Gaza Strip this month, China has spoken out against the Biden administration’s support for Israel. President Biden has not publicly called on Israeli forces to halt their attacks, which Israel says are aimed at Hamas militants and their infrastructure in Gaza, although on he took a tougher stance in a phone call with President Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel on Monday, according to two people familiar with the conversation.

Wang Yi, China’s foreign minister, led a meeting on Sunday to discuss the conflict at the United Nations Security Council, where China holds the rotating presidency this month. Mr Wang called on Israel to lift its blockade of Gaza, a crowded coastal territory where more than two million Palestinians live.

The Chinese state news media has condemned the United States for its support of Israel, accusing it of hypocrisy in going after the Chinese government for human rights abuses in Xinjiang while not coming to the aid of Palestinians in the Gaza conflict. In an editorial this week, the Global Times, a Chinese government mouthpiece, wrote that the Biden administration was “slapping its own face as it shows indifference to the human rights of Palestinians.”

“It holds the banner of ‘human rights’ high as the core of this administration’s foreign policy,” the editorial continued, but “turns a blind eye when the human rights of Palestinians are trampled on.”

Since May 10, fighting has left more than 200 people dead in Israel and the Palestinian territories. Most are Palestinians killed by Israeli airstrikes in the Gaza Strip, a densely packed coastal enclave of about two million people, while deadly unrest has also flared in the West Bank and Israel. Explore the toll of the violence in this multimedia report.

Credit…Amir Levy/Getty Images

Since violence between Israelis and Palestinians began escalating last week, at least 100 new WhatsApp groups have been formed for the express purpose of committing violence against Palestinians, according to an analysis by The New York Times and FakeReporter, an Israeli watchdog group that studies misinformation.

The groups on WhatsApp, the encrypted messaging service owned by Facebook, have names like “The Jewish Guard” and “The Revenge Troops” and have added hundreds of new members a day, according to The Times’s analysis.

The groups, which are in Hebrew, have also been featured on email lists and online message boards used by far-right extremists in Israel.

While social media and messaging apps have been used elsewhere to fuel hate speech and violence, these WhatsApp groups go further, researchers said. They explicitly plan and execute violent acts against Arab Israelis.

That is far more specific than past WhatsApp-fueled mob attacks in India, where calls for violence were vague and generally not targeted at individuals or businesses, the researchers said. Even the Stop the Steal groups in the United States that organized the Jan. 6 protests in Washington did not openly direct attacks using social media or messaging apps, they said.

Credit…Doug Mills/The New York Times

Representative Rashida Tlaib, Democrat of Michigan, confronted President Biden on Tuesday over his support for Israel amid its bombing campaign against Hamas in Gaza, urging him to stop enabling a government that she said was committing crimes against Palestinians, according to a Democratic aide familiar with the exchange.

During a conversation on a tarmac in Detroit, where Mr. Biden had arrived to visit a Ford factory near her congressional district, Ms. Tlaib echoed a scathing speech she delivered last week on the House floor, telling the president that he must do more to protect Palestinian lives and human rights, said the aide, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe her remarks.

Her comments came as Israel has scaled up its bombing campaign in the past week. Among Democrats in Congress, attitudes toward Israel have grown more skeptical as the party base expresses concern about Israel’s treatment of the Palestinians. Several high-profile progressive lawmakers including Ms. Tlaib have become increasingly vocal in criticizing Mr. Biden for his stance.

There was no immediate comment on the exchange from the White House.

Mr. Biden has expressed support for a cease-fire between Israel and Hamas militants in Gaza, but he has not demanded one, and he has continued to assert that Israel has a right to defend itself.

Ms. Tlaib told the president that the status quo was enabling more killing, and that his policy of unconditional support for the Israeli government under Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was not working, the aide said.

Representative Debbie Dingell, Democrat of Michigan, whose district is home to the Ford F-150 factory that Mr. Biden was visiting and who also greeted him on his arrival, later said that the exchange on the tarmac was part of “an important dialogue.”

“It was a very compassionate, honest discussion,” she said in a brief interview. “But the president doesn’t deal with these kinds of issues in public, and he doesn’t negotiate in public.”

Mr. Biden shook Ms. Tlaib’s hand after the conversation, and later praised the congresswoman during his public remarks at the factory in Dearborn.

“I admire your intellect, I admire your passion and I admire your concern for so many other people,” Mr. Biden said before referring to Ms. Tlaib’s grandmother Muftia Tlaib, who lives in the West Bank. “From my heart, I pray that your grandmom and family are well. I promise you, I’ll do everything to see that they are.”

Credit…Ahmad Gharabli/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

Our Jerusalem bureau chief, Patrick Kingsley, examined the events that have led to the past week’s violence, the worst between Israelis and Palestinians in years. A little-noticed police action in Jerusalem was among them. He writes:

Twenty-seven days before the first rocket was fired from Gaza this week, a squad of Israeli police officers entered the Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem, brushed the Palestinian attendants aside and strode across its vast limestone courtyard. Then they cut the cables to the loudspeakers that broadcast prayers to the faithful from four medieval minarets.

It was the night of April 13, the first day of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. It was also Memorial Day in Israel, which honors those who died fighting for the country. The Israeli president was delivering a speech at the Western Wall, a sacred Jewish site that lies below the mosque, and Israeli officials were concerned that the prayers would drown it out.

Here is his full account of that night and the events that later unfolded.

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